How children share – Davenport’s Kindergarten Rationale

I’ve always believed that we can learn a lot from children as analogues for behaviours in organisations.

They’re just like us, but usually more transparent about the motives for their actions.

Image by Carol VanHook

A few years ago, I was asked to present at an internal conference for a large Oil Company and had the opportunity to put that to the test. Tom Davenport, co-author of Working Knowledge once shared his “Kindergarten Rationale” for why children share:

You share with the friends you trust

You share when you’re sure you’ll get something in return

Your toys are more special than anyone else’s

You share when the teacher tells you to, until she turns her back

When toys are scarce, there’s less sharing

Once yours get taken, you never share again

With the help of the of the local team (and the permission of the parents!), we video-interviewed several of the children of the leadership team, asking them questions like “What makes you want to share?” and “What kind of children do you like to share with?”.

You can imagine the impact that these vignettes had when played back to the 200-strong audience, who delighted in spotting which children belonged to which leader, and particularly enjoyed the moment when the 6 year-old son of the Finance Chief said that he only liked sharing with people who gave him something just as nice in return…

Perhaps we should ask our children some other interesting knowledge management questions:

Interesting. I’m wondering about the transparency of what may be motivators in adults (insofar as sharing is concerned) that we witness in child’s play – and what changes (if any) we expect maturation to bring. E.g., is it “right” to only exchange items of equal value?

Fascinating! I suspect that Tom Davenport’s last point could use some elaboration, though. People clearly continue to (cautiously) share after being burned, even with those that violated their trust. However, there’s obviously an emotional process that needs to happen before the virtuous cycle can restart, and I’d love to learn more about what it entails.